posted at 10:41 pm on September 30, 2013 by Mary Katharine Ham

In an impressive display of Beltway mentality, the Washington Post invited federal workers to sing the blues about their possible furloughs, should the government shut down. These federal workers already have better pay and benefits than most of the taxpayers funding their jobs, and in the event of a government shutdown, those taxpayers come to find that much of what they’ve been funding is “nonessential,” according to the very government that employs these multitudes. But it hurts to be told you’re “nonessential,” and the Washington Post allows a place to vent. Some of those who contributed are officially “essential” and should be— they perform “essential activities to the extent that they protect life and property,” according to the Office of Management and Budget.

Others should probably stay quiet, lest loudly proclaiming their job descriptions makes taxpayers think, “Wait, what are we paying you for?” Like this guy:

And, lo, it came to pass that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission environmental engineers were furloughed, and from that day forth, we were forced to dine on raw ox tails and dried lentils before we ventured out to light the tiki torches that ward off bands of marauding coyotes and looters but stand as a bleak reminder of better times, when we knew how to use fire to cook meat. But that was before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission environmental engineers were furloughed for 3-7 days, my child.

Most of the political danger of a government shut down, unfortunately, likely falls on Republicans. It’s not fair that part of the reason for that is a media happy to blame them and them alone, as Mark Halperin pointed out, but it’s the truth and one we must recognize as we’re gearing up to fight a message battle on that front. But there is danger for Democrats and liberals, too, just as there was with sequestration. A shutdown necessarily highlights many jobs taxpayers had no idea they were funding. Most of the pain from a shutdown falls within the Beltway, where as I mentioned, salaries are higher and the economy more prosperous than the rest of the country thanks to taxpayer money siphoned from them to serve the ruling and contractor class. And, in the end, it may be that people’s personal experiences don’t live up to the sky-is-falling expectations set by the media and Democrats. That’s what happened with sequestration, and it’s why the Continuing Resolution’s spending levels being set at sequestration level is a virtually controversy-free part of this fight. The fact that America doesn’t fall apart when small parts of the federal government are dismantled is a good thing, for the country in general, and for making conservative arguments. It’s less likely that a shutdown redounds to conservative benefit on this front than sequestration did but it’s worth pondering if we end up in this message battle.

What worries me is that fighting the shutdown messaging battle prevents conservatives and the rest of the country from focusing on another government function that doesn’t live up to the hype tomorrow. When those signing up for Obamacare run into the “glitch” that is the very nature of the program, it will constitute the public’s most concrete collision with the broken promises of the program. As with sequestration, real people will learn quickly that what Obama and Democrats said would come to pass simply didn’t, this time with far graver consequences to them and their families than in the case of sequestration.

Now, credit where credit is due. Thank you to the federal government workers with a sense of self-awareness. Like this guy:

Mike Marsh is a federal employee who wrote to Congress this summer with an unusual proposal to save the government money.

Fire me, Marsh told lawmakers. And everyone I work with.

“I have concluded that [my agency] is a congressional experiment that hasn’t worked out in practice,” wrote Marsh, who is the inspector general for the Denali Commission, an economic-development agency based in Alaska. “I recommend that Congress put its money elsewhere.”

This has been tried before. But not often. Old Washington hands could remember only two other federal workers who had lobbied publicly to have themselves defunded. One was a high-level Ronald Reagan appointee. One was a lowly weather observer.

Both failed. Meaning they weren’t fired.

Marsh seems likely to fail, too — even though his requests arrived in Washington in the middle of a battle to cut the budget. His agency seems protected by one of Washington’s most enduring customs: the defense of home-state giveaways, even in times of national austerity.

Marsh draws an important distinction in his fight: he doesn’t necessarily think his commission’s mission isn’t worthwhile, but that it doesn’t have to be performed at taxpayer expense. Liberals get away with obliterating that distinction at every turn. Government does not equal society. One can hope that truth wins out in the event of a shutdown, as it did in sequestration.

The series starts with Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who is diagnosed with lung cancer. His lousy health maintenance organization won’t cover a decent doctor, or treatment. So Walter is forced to turn to crime just to pay his medical bills and … whoa, wait a minute. You know who has excellent benefits, compared with basically everyone else in the country? Teachers, firefighters and cops…

Later, after Walt’s actions accidentally result in the shooting of his brother-in-law, a Drug Enforcement Agency agent, Walt’s wife takes a bunch of the meth money to pay for Hank’s treatment. On his government salary, Hank can’t possibly afford the treatment he needs, because, of course, his lousy insurance policy won’t cover more than a few visits to the physical therapist … and whoa, we just went from “unrealistic” to “ludicrous.” You know who has even better benefits than employees enjoying a compensation package collectively bargained with a local government? Federal employees in a low-cost state such as New Mexico. Moreover, extra benefits are available to people injured in the line of duty.

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Do you breathe air, have a pulse, well then sister you will probably die sometime tomorrow if the government is shut down. Why, because the government keeps you from dying, fool, so let’s fund this thing and go home!

“and the ability to comment on major projects affecting the lives of all Americans?”

That’s the beauty: with your — on the dole, we don’t have to worry about how your major projects affect the lives of all Americans! DOHOHOHOHO!

If we can keep a shut down going for a week, we’ll save a full order of magnitude more money than we will from some BS “negotiation” that, as Mark Steyn always points out, is re-spent again in the time it takes the clerks to print copies of the agreement.

Also, that art museum guy has a point. Funding for the guards! At least the ones who are protecting something that can be carried off, sit down National Parks Service.

When those signing up for Obamacare run into the “glitch” that is the very nature of the program, it will constitute the public’s most concrete collision with the broken promises of the program.

but this is the key reason that barry and the Left are so anxious to shut down the government. Headline: Rs shutdown government to block rolling out obamacare…millions of people not able to sign up for insurance

i do wish that R ‘leadership’ could articulate what barry’s plan is. I mean in a dot-to-dot manner. First item, barry loves to trash the R party…and just like Alinsky, loves to throw a wrench into things.

barry is a ends justify the means kinda guy. Shutting things down has a long history in social and union movements. This what the are, and what they love to do.

Rs need to say explicitly on the TV shows that barry is not your normal statesmen like prezy…his goal is not to get along…his goal is quite different…transform the country and destroy the R party. For some reason they are afraid to say this…barry hates Rs and conservatives. (cf. John Lott)

The funny thing is that everyone knows that the fastest solution would be to turn off the paychecks at the White House and Capitol Hill. There would be an amazingly uncomplicated CR plan signed and enacted by dawn tomorrow.

Shut that sucker down. And the longer the better. In fact, everyone that’s “non-essential”, we obviously don’t NEED them anyway. Set the new max level of spending at the shutdown level and call it GOOD.

“And, lo, it came to pass that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission environmental engineers were furloughed, and from that day forth, we were forced to dine on raw ox tails and dried lentils before we ventured out to light the tiki torches that ward off bands of marauding coyotes and looters but stand as a bleak reminder of better times, when we knew how to use fire to cook meat. ”

There have been numerous government shutdowns in my lifetime. Other than the news coverage, I can’t say that I ever noticed any effects from them. If I was planning on visiting the museums in DC this week or hiking in one of the national parks, I’d probably find the shutdown an annoyance, but not anything to get worked up about.

Someone needs to show our dedicated Fed workers in DC the list of the highest median income counties in this country- with the highest percentage in and around our nations capital- and ask them just why that is……
.
DC has been bery bery good o them.
.
Class warfare ??
.YOU EFFN BETCHA !

I’m a federal employee. Never really thought of my job as “essential” like the law enforcement jobs that won’t get furloughed. Still, I get to keep working because my agency doesn’t draw a dime of taxpayer funds.

Most of the political danger of a government shut down, unfortunately, likely falls on Republicans.

.
Wow. That’s really gonna hammer their sterling 8-9% congressional approval rating.
.
But at the end of the day – they may be ” blamed” by the drive by media Pravda cabal –
But they CANNOT be blamed for that abortion coming down the pike called HopeyCare.

And, lo, it came to pass that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission environmental engineers were furloughed, and from that day forth, we were forced to dine on raw ox tails and dried lentils before we ventured out to light the tiki torches that ward off bands of marauding coyotes and looters but stand as a bleak reminder of better times, when we knew how to use fire to cook meat.

And people said that the TV show “Revolution” was implausible… all it will take is shutting down the FERC for a day or two!

The PB Shelley poem that they use on Breaking Bad seems particularly appropriate for these poor, widdle feral government leeches and their “work”:

Ozymandius

I met a traveler from an antique land Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert… Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal these words appear: ‘My name is Ozymandius, King of Kings, Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’

Now, credit where credit is due. Thank you to the federal government workers with a sense of self-awareness. Like this guy

I find it interesting that all of the museum guys — even the Smithsonian guy — said that their guards are the important and essential people. Everyone else could just shut down for a while. That’s the word from the guys in the DOD also — except they seem to think that the VA’s medical caregivers are important too.

ThePrimordialOrderedPair on September 30, 2013 at 11:27 PM

Those continuing resolutions, sadly, meet the Constitutional requirement for a budget. They have a dollar amount attached to them. We have to get used to not seeing anything get pruned — for a continuing resolution is designed to protect the status quo rather than rethinking the status quo.

Those continuing resolutions, sadly, meet the Constitutional requirement for a budget. They have a dollar amount attached to them. We have to get used to not seeing anything get pruned — for a continuing resolution is designed to protect the status quo rather than rethinking the status quo.

unclesmrgol on October 1, 2013 at 2:56 AM

They don’t. But you and I could argue that point until we’re both blue in the face. Budgeting is the process of deciding how the money is spent before the fiscal year commences. It’s like sitting down at your kitchen table and making a budget for paying bills before you get them in the mail instead of flying by the seat of your pants — a sure way for any household or private business to go bankrupt.

I was in the ‘essential’ category during the Clinton era shutdown: direct warfighter support for information.

All of those where I worked that did the actual work for the warfighter stayed… a lot of the GS-13 through GS-15 crowd, you know the ‘administrators’… they got the furlough.

Guards were essential.

Cafeteria staff were not.

The guys in the boiler room were essential, as were the janitors.

Clerical staff, was not.

The people at shipping and receiving got reduced staff, yes, but mail and other items still came and went and secure packages were still tracked… inter-office mail of the physical sort… well…

It was a pure joy seeing the few higher-up GS types having to do their own secretarial work and signing off on jobs as they went out and even bringing the office mail back with them… it was like we could have done without all that other staff!

Amazing!

So I did notice today that the planet did not stop rotating about its axis, nor did it stop revolving around the sun. You don’t need a government for that stuff, apparently.

And that was in one of the most efficient agencies in the government, that got up into the mid-60% range for efficiency, while places like SSA and HHS got in the 40% range… overall efficiency for government hit about 55% Average for all industry about 80% and charities got in the 90%+ range because so many use unpaid staff and volunteers while the slackers are just lining the pockets of the people who run it… still that free work boosts efficiency no end.

Want a better government?

Get rid of the secretarial and upper GS range of staff… in fact just fire everyone who is ‘non-essential’. It will boost efficiency no end, lower costs and the work that is actually vital to the Nation will get done. I figure about 2/3 to 3/4 of the current government could evaporate into NOTHING and no would notice it, save for the once bossy types who can’t find a job to boss the average American around. They need real jobs instead of killing real jobs.

I’m all for it.

Even better is that it will happen one way or another, going smilingly or kicking and screaming about how you want others to pay way too much to ‘help’ them by trying to control their lives.

Let It Burn.

A good brush burnoff will reveal the few things that we actually need… and the mass of stuff that we don’t. And if you want another ‘CR’ then make it a Skeleton Crew one that only funds ‘essential employees’. Government can break any contract it wants, and that includes those that employees work under… because it is the Sovereign Power and should never, ever be trusted for its promises or contracts.

I am a Federal Worker – and here’s what I just posted to FaceBook – which all my friends are sharing …

“I WANT FULL FUNDING FOR MY BLOATED SOCIALIST HEALTH CARE PLAN – WHICH ISN’T READY FOR PRIME TIME YET – OR THE DISABLED VET GETS IT IN THE HEAD!!”

Shut it down – keep it down.

I served 24 years in the Navy. I risked my life as a Cold War Submariner against the Soviet Union and served through two wars after 9-11. For all that – I received a monthly pension and some “cheaper than average” healthcare. To top it off – I am still a Navy civilian worker and draw a government salary. All of my “compensation” comes from a government source – except the $12 per hour I earn as a part time bouncer in New Orleans. Maybe the government wasn’t such a good investment for me, huh?

I don’t care – I didn’t serve the government for money – I served because I love this country – it’s an exceptional nation – above and beyond any other on this planet that has ever existed.

You can take my retirement pay … you can take my health care plan … you can take every award and every medal I earned in service to this nation. You can erase my service record as if I never served – but I want one thing in return …

I want my kids to grow up in a FREE nation – FREE of the shackles of SOCIALISM!

SHUT IT DOWN – KEEP IT DOWN!

ObamaCare is pure Socialism – it was passed, not through an effort of compromise – but using a “legislative trick” after the American people had REMOVED the Democrat’s ability to override filibusters in the Senate. The Democratic response to this was to “bypass” the Senate and shove the bill down the throats of Americans – who, polls have shown – HAVE NEVER wanted.

SHUT IT DOWN – KEEP IT DOWN!

ObamaCare – even the Unions don’t want it – and the people who passed the law – they’ve exempted themselves from it! Oh yeah – they “claim” they haven’t – all the while they’re fighting the Vitter Amendment.

The Republicans are the “bad guys” for simply defunding it for a year? It’s not even ready to be implemented and won’t be ready for at least a year!

Now we have the media and Democrats calling people “Terrorists” for wanting to defund this abomination. Okay … lodge my name with the terrorists then! Call the NSA because we ALL KNOW there are repercussions for opposing this President’s … Fascism. Somebody “share” this post with the White House so they know what IP address to tune into.

We have a President who is UNACCOUNTABLE to the American people. It’s time we fought back.

SHUT IT DOWN – KEEP IT DOWN!

This is a fight that military folks can’t fight. On this battlefield – YOU THE AMERICAN CITIZEN are the one that’s going to have to fight it. You’re going to have to “sally-up” and sacrifice and not bend to the pressure. This is a crucial moment – don’t lose your nerve.

SHUT IT DOWN – KEEP IT DOWN!

By the way – I’m no right wing nut. I’m generally PRO-CHOICE up to the end of the first trimester. I’m FOR a comprehensive solution to immigration. I’m for legalizing drugs and prostitution. I’m FOR all kinds of things that right-wingers aggressively oppose.

But I’m NOT for Socialism when the majority of Americans don’t want it. I’m not for installing a “KING” in the White House – who is totally unaccountable to Americans.

You know who has excellent benefits, compared with basically everyone else in the country? Teachers, firefighters and cops…

Yeah, I had that argument with daughter last night. There have been two shows, Seinfeld and Breaking Bad, where I never watched a regular episode of the show but watched the grand finale. Breaking Bad’s ending was a thousand times better… Except for the flawed premise. I said, What? Teachers have great health insurance. Daughter just rolled her eyes at me.

I’ve been on every furlough since 1980 and I always scoff at the weepy snits who think they’re so dammned important. Look, if you’re a public servant and you’re not saving a life or feeding a lab rat, you’re just not that essential.

Also, I get teed off at the “hardship” we Feds get payed two weeks after we work our hours. That means on the 15 October, I’m getting a full pay check. So, if I’m living paycheck to paycheck, I won’t see anything go wrong until 29 October.

Now, there is the lost month of pay, but in every instance up to the Obama furlough this past year, we Feds were payed for our furloughs – including the three weeks we were sent home under Clinton.

Obama was able to get away with not paying us for sequestration furloughs because he amortized the pain: instead of sending us home for a hardcore sprint of days, we had to request unpaid time off – that was a little galling, but, hey, I got a job and I give good service so I’m cool.

Bottom line, we’re being sent home, we might get paid, we might not, but we still have jobs so we need to shut up and suck it up.

Don’t even start to feel sorry for those non-essentials. After the dustup between dear leader and those terrorists ends, they’ll get all their back pay and any other bennies due them. Let the whining begin.

Does this mean that when the next snow storm hits DC we should expect all these “essential” workers to be on the job or will take be taking the day off? After all, just in case they catch a cold or slip and fall they will have healthcare.

“Because this is my job. They hired me to a do a job and they should honor that contract. You shouldn’t deem one person in a group of five nonessential because that person is ‘the newest to the unit’, you are now punishing people for mobility and diversity.”

U.S. Marshals Service investigative research specialist:
“I am the power behind the throne…”

Reclamation employee:

“If every federal employee and contractor working with federal employees walked off the job, the American public would make the case of ‘essential personnel’ for us.”

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration biologist:

“I’m a scientist. Not federal, but a contractor who would also lose their income and their ability to support my family. Is science essential for America to advance? We also support students. Is education essential?”

“And, lo, it came to pass that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission environmental engineers were furloughed, and from that day forth, we were forced to dine on raw ox tails and dried lentils before we ventured out to light the tiki torches that ward off bands of marauding coyotes and looters but stand as a bleak reminder of better times, when we knew how to use fire to cook meat.”

In the near future the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission or some other parasite agency/commision/tsar will not allow us to use fire to cook our ox tails and lentils.

I lived in Washington for over 40 years. At the slightest hint of snow the metro governments would declare a snow emergency and the Federal government would tell non-essential personnel they did not need to report for work. In those cases these non-essential workers were still paid and not charged with leave.

I asked several for my government friends if they were concerned that they were considered non-essential. All said it didn’t bother them. Now that they are not being paid, it does.

Those who didn’t report to work for non-essentiality during snow flurries shouldn’t have their status changed.